West Bengal power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay on Saturday burnt the effigy of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chattopadhyay set alight the effigy of Modi at around 12.40pm at Esplanade crossing in Kolkata blocking the roads from five different points. He is said to have done this on the instruction of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and was protesting the BJP's interference in Darjeeling.
"What prime minister is doing in Delhi is unbearable for us here. It's supporting terrorism in Darjeeling and wanting to break West Bengal. We don't need such a prime minister,"said the power minister Chattopadhyay.
The minister's unique way of protest was part of the greater combative plan of the Trinamool Congress against the state-wise protest lodged by the BJP over assault of its state president in Darjeeling.
Asked whether it was proper on the part of a cabinet minister to burn the effigy of the Prime Minister of the country, Chattopadhyay said, "I am a common man and a Trinamool Congress soldier first, and a minister later."
A few days ago, BJP's Bengal President Dilip Ghosh was assaulted by a group of youths in Darjeeling who are supposed to be supporters of the breakaway faction of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), now being supported by Trinamool Congress.
BJP workers had hit the street protesting the assault of its leader and hit traffic services in Kolkata for hours over the last two days.
Various streets of Kolkata were blocked on Saturday making it impossible for vehicles to ply. Train services were also badly hit all over the state. The protest was called by Mamata Banerjee and she instructed Trinamool Congress leaders to hit the street all over the state.
"They will have to take stern action to book the culprits who attacked Dilip Ghosh. We won't believe in words only. We want action,"said Locket Chatterjee, chief of BJP's women cell in Bengal.
